BY PP TEAM LEADER FLORENCE O. TEMPORAL
Pusong Pinoy’s vision is to empower Filipino children through education. One way to achieve this is to ensure that Filipino public school teachers are equipped with the skills to teach effectively and efficiently. With this in mind, Pusong Pinoy has developed the Teacher’s Training Series.
English is a “global language”. Filipinos can be adept English speakers. However, our local accents often hinder us from being understood by English-speaking foreigners, or even fellow Filipinos. In order for our students to speak world-standard English and be globally-competitive in the future, they need to be taught how to speak “neutrally” while pronouncing words correctly, without any trace of their local or regional accents.
On its 4th anniversary, Pusong Pinoy conducted the first installment of the Teacher’s Training Series entitled “Accent Reduction Training for Teachers”. This is the first of three modules designed to teach crucial teaching skills to public school teachers. These modules were designed to help teachers to further develop both “soft and hard” teaching skills and to help them to implement various types of reading programs.
The whole-day training session was held at the Municipal Hall of Tuba, Benguet on May 11, 2013 with over 50 teachers in attendance. PP volunteers from Baguio, Manila and Palawan conducted this milestone on behalf of the organization. Charter Team Leader (CTL) Ningning Doble acted as resource speaker, while other PP volunteers served as facilitators.
During the training, CTL Ningning explained why it is important for teachers to be able speak and teach English correctly, whilst reducing their local accent. She stressed that young students do as they are taught and pronounce as they hear the words; therefore, teachers should level-up and raise their standard of teaching. Participants took part enthusiastically in a series of pronunciation drills, activities and games – all aimed at giving them give them the basic skills they need to become more effective teachers. At the end of the workshop, the teachers from Benguet expressed their excitement about the future workshops that Pusong Pinoy will conduct in their area.
This all-important Pusong Pinoy teaching workshop would not have been made possible without the generous support of ONE HEART FOR HOPE FOUNDATION (OHFH). Its support provided the teachers with food, workshop handouts and supplies. It also enabled the PP volunteers from all over the Philippines to travel to Tuba, Benguet and conduct the workshop. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, OHFH!
We would like to acknowledge the support from volunteer PP Superheroes who made this workshop possible. Thank you to Charter Team Leader Ningning Doble for spearheading the activity. Thank you to Team Leaders- Jenny Soriano Oliva, Lhai Simon, Majoy Lumiwes, Joanne Suyam and Florence O. Temporal. Thank you to PP volunteers, Lino Lumiwes and Marty Goitia. Your assistance during the event was invaluable. Thank you, also, to Jong Herrera from Brooke’s Point, Palawan, for inspiring the teachers by sharing his experiences as an Alternative Learning System teacher.
Click HERE to see more pictures of this event.
